Salt Treatment - Day 2

I'm slowly raising the salinity of the pond to 0.20% to treat my sick Koi.

The salt is supposed to generate a thicker slime coat on the fish, to help them fight bacteria. The problem as described by the MAKC Health Hotline Volunteer is that the fish were attached by anaerobic bacteria in the pond over winter. With a reduced immune system the fish will be in danger when the temperature gets to 50 degrees as bacteria become active. Unfortunately, Mother Nature is not helping out, because the Koi's immune system won't become active until 60 degrees. So the most dangerous time for these already sick fish is between 50 and 60 degrees. For now, they should be "stable" at 40 degrees, but I need to help them build up their defenses to get through the rise up to 60 degrees. So the bottom line, is the enhanced slime coat from the salt will give them a fighting chance.

Last night, I added a second 80 pound bag of salt.

This morning, I tested the salinity to check the effect:
Salt: 0.09 %

I rechecked my math to see if the volume of the pond was off.
160 pounds / 17,400 gallons /10 = 0.092% salinity

So the last reading should have been 0.046%. Since the test kit is only acurate to 0.01%, then this is about 0.05%. So were, still close on our volume estimate.

Tonight, I'll add another 80 pounds of salt, and I'll retest in the morning. Then the salinity should be at 0.14%.